About CCU

THE ARCTIC

is a vast living ecosystem and the least disturbed biome remaining in the Northern Hemisphere. The Arctic Ocean, sea ice, atmosphere, freshwaters, permafrost lands, and unique diversity of life and indigenous peoples are integral parts of the circumpolar Arctic. Ecosystem interactions in the Arctic influence the entire planet and are especially sensitive to, and good indicators of, global changes in the Earth's environment.

Threats

Transboundary contamination of the Arctic is a hazard of global scope and concern as nuclear, toxic, and other industrial pollutants load the system from sources near and far. Levels of heavy metals, PCBs, and other contaminants in coastal areas and the Arctic food chain threaten the health of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and local and indigenous inhabitants whose wildlife consumption puts them at particular risk.

Moreover, the Arctic is increasingly vulnerable to emissions of greenhouse gases, and is melting dramatically with local and worldwide effects. These impacts imperil not only the ecological integrity of the region, but also its indigenous peoples, many of whose age-old cultures are quite literally melting away.

No comprehensive management regime or legally binding agreement currently exists among the Arctic rim countries - Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States - to guide development of Arctic resources in a manner that protects the environment and ensures equitable and sustainable use of renewable resources. However, in 1996 a high level intergovernmental forum - the Arctic Council -was established by the Arctic nations to promote cooperation on environmental protection and sustainable development in the region.

As some of the Arctic's original practitioners of sustainable living, the Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka, Russia; the Saami of Norway Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia; Indians, First Nations and Tribes of Northern Canada and Alaska; Aleut of Alaska and Russia; and more than 40 distinct indigenous peoples of the North of Russia have valuable lessons to share with the rest of the world.

An important objective of CCU is to expand the community of support for indigenous concerns, and strengthen the voice of those urging governments to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples.

CCU

The Circumpolar Conservation Union (CCU) is dedicated to protection of the ecological and cultural integrity of the Arctic for present and future generations. We recognize the interdependence and sacredness of all life and believe that the enhancement of mutual understanding and respect for our human diversity is essential to secure the social, economic, and environmental health of the Arctic.

Cooperation

CCU promotes international cooperation among Arctic indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, women's networks, and others in the world community concerned with protection of the threatened Arctic environment and the survival of its indigenous peoples. The shared intent is to increase public awareness of critical environmental and human rights issues in the Arctic and develop a broad-based circumpolar constituency for Arctic sustainability.

CCU fosters connections linking indigenous peoples and environmental interests at regional, national and international levels. We encourage dialogue and build partnerships for sustainable Arctic communities by facilitating access to information, forums for discussion, and avenues for active participation.

At the Arctic Council Ministerial Conference in Barrow Alaska, in October 2000, CCU was officially accredited as an Observer to the Arctic Council.

CCU is a participating organization in the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) that includes hundreds of public interest organizations from over fifty nations, focused on achieving the global elimination of persistent organic pollutants, on an expedited yet socially equitable basis.

Organization

The Circumpolar Conservation Union was established in 1993 as a project of the Tides Foundation (later the Tides Center). CCU separated from Tides and began operating as an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization as of April 1, 2005. The professional staff of CCU is based in Washington D.C. CCU financial statements are available upon request.

Board of Directors

Evelyn M. Hurwich, President and Chair
Human ecologist (College of the Atlantic, Maine) and attorney (University of California, Berkeley), Evelyn has specialized in polar affairs since 1989. Until 1991, she served as Associate Director and Counsel to The Antarctica Project, a Washington DC-based NGO, where she successfully worked to defeat a Minerals Treaty for Antarctica and achieve instead the negotiation and signing of an Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. In 1993, convinced of the need for a new entity to address international Arctic issues she founded and directed the Circumpolar Conservation Union as a project of the Tides Foundation for 12 years. Ms. Hurwich served as the Arctic reporter for the Yearbook of International Environmental Law from 1993 through 1997, and participated in the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and the Arctic Council, as a nongovernmental member of the United States delegation for many years, until 2000, when CCU was officially accredited as an Observer. Under her leadership, CCU became an independent public interest nonprofit organization in 2005.

Brooks B. Yeager, Executive Vice President
CCU’s new Executive Vice President has long experience with issues in the U.S. Arctic, and is a frequent visitor to the region. He is also the Executive Vice President of the Climate Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based NGO that promotes effective policies for reducing global and national greenhouse gas emissions, and for national approaches to adaptation to unavoidable climate change impacts. During eight years in the Clinton Administration, Brooks served in senior positions in the Department of the Interior and the State Department. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Development at State from 1999 – 2000, he was the lead U.S. negotiator for the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, he worked with the State Department on the initial development of the Arctic Council, and led a number of administration efforts in Alaska, especially with regard to oil and gas development on Alaska’s North Slope. From 2001 until 2005, Brooks was the Vice President of the Global Threats Program at World Wildlife Fund-U.S. In his capacity as Principal of Birdwell Strategies, an environmental consulting firm he founded, he worked on numerous projects focusing on climate change in the Arctic, and co-authored A New Sea: the Need for a Regional Agreement on Management and Conservation of the Arctic Marine Environment, published by WWF-International in October, 2006. Prior to his government service, he directed the Washington D.C. Office of the Audubon Society, led energy and wilderness conservation campaigns for the Sierra Club, and worked on the legislative staff of Rep. Jim Weaver (D-Oregon), specializing in environmental issues. Brooks received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

Larry Ruth, Ph.D. Secretary and Treasurer

President, Lawrence Ruth + Associates, a consultancy in natural resource and environmental policy. Previously Larry taught, conducted research and handled programmatic responsibilities in various capacities at the University of California for 15 years, where he was also a S.V. Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the College of Natural Resources and Boalt Hall School of Law, as well as Director of the William Mann Distinguished Visitor Program. Research interests and recent work include development and analysis of ecologically sensitive approaches to resource management, sustainability of natural resources and ecosystems, wildland fire policy, adaptive management, environmental assessment, and the effectiveness of administrative regulation. His numerous publications include individual and co-authored articles on federal forest fire policy, ecosystem management, forest policy in the Sierra Nevada, and adaptive management.

Brock Evans
President of the Endangered Species Coalition since 1997, prior to which Brock served as Vice President for National Issues for the National Audubon Society for 15 years. He earlier served for eight years as Director (head lobbyist) of the Sierra Club's Washington DC Office, and for six more as the Club's Northwest Representative, responsible for its interests from the North Pole to California. His major focus in these positions was on forest, wilderness, and energy policies, especially as they affected public lands. Brock has done scholarly work at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, as a Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics, and teaching in Israel as a Visiting Professor at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School, Brock also served with the U.S. Marine Corps. A prolific writer and public speaker, Brock has received numerous awards for his work, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Council of America, and the John Muir Award, the Sierra Club's highest honor.

Iva Kaufman
Director of the Family Philanthropy Initiative of United Jewish Communities (UJC). Previously Program Director of the Sun Hill Foundation, an early funder and substantial supporter of the Circumpolar Conservation Union. Iva lives and works in New York City.

Pratt C. Remmel, Jr.
Environmentalist and Peace Activist. Founder of the Arkansas Ecology Center, Pratt served as Director and led the Center through two lawsuits considered “landmark litigation” to protect natural resources in Arkansas: enjoining Gillam Dam construction on the Cossatot River in the Ouachita Mountains in southwest Arkansas, and halting hundreds of miles of stream channelization of the Cache River in eastern Arkansas. The latter led to the protection of thousands of acres of bottomland swamps and forests, now known as the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, where the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was recently rediscovered. In 1970 received Arkansas Conservationist of the Year Award from the Arkansas Wildlife Federation and the Sears Roebuck Foundation. Founding member of the Threshold Foundation, former staff and board member of American Rivers, Pratt also served ten years on the Board of Directors of the Peace Development Fund. Founder and Director of the Dunbar Garden Project of the Little Rock Parks Department from 1992-2004, Pratt is currently a board member of Arkansas Urban Gardening Educational Resources, working with the University of Arkansas Medical Center to develop and expand school gardens to help slow the epidemic of early onset diabetes. Pratt received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.

Advisory Board

Faith Fjeld - Director, Saami Báiki Foundation, Publisher and Editor, Baiki, the North American Sámi Journal, and Project Coordinator of "The Sami: Reindeer People of Alaska," a traveling exhibit on display in Alaska.

Ester Fjellheim, M.D. - Member, Saami Medical Association, International Union for Circumpolar Health, and a former Member of the Saami Parliament of Norway.

Anna M. Kerttula, Ph.D. - Program Director of Arctic Social Sciences at the National Science Foundation, previously Assistant for Russian Affairs to United States Senator Ted Stevens and then Associate Director of the Alaska Governor’s Office in Washington, DC. An Anthropologist and author of Antler on the Sea: The Yup'ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East, her extensive fieldwork has covered a diverse range of research topics from land use patterns and subsistence economics to ethnic identity, household organization and domestic violence, and has ranged across a diverse collection of peoples including Central Yup’ik (Eskimos), Tanana (Athapaskan), Pribiloff Aleuts, Siberian Yupik and Chukchi of Russia.

Oran R. Young, Ph.D.
Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Tromsø, Norway. Former Director of both the Institute of Arctic Studies and the Institute on International Environmental Governance at Dartmouth College. Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of the Arctic, and Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change. Served for six years as vice-president of the International Arctic Science Committee. Author of over twenty books and numerous scholarly articles.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Stay informed on Arctic Issues. E-mail us your contact information at CCU@circumpolar.org. (Name, phone, address, e-mail)

Let your political representatives know that you want them to use their leadership to help create a positive Arctic future!